Launch of Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year Awards 2013

Published: 20 December 2012

The search is on to find the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year 2013. The awards were launched by the 2012 winner Claire Galloway and RCN Northern Ireland Director Janice Smyth.

Organised by the RCN, this is the seventeenth year of the awards which are designed to recognise and reward excellence in the nursing profession. This year’s ceremony will be held on 6 June 2013 at the Culloden Hotel, Holywood.

Current Nurse of the Year, Claire Galloway (pictured right), clinical lead nurse for sexual health with the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, received the award for transforming and modernising the trust’s sexual health service, improving its performance, and increasing access for patients.

Janice Smyth, Director of the RCN in Northern Ireland (pictured left), said: "The aim of the RCN Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year Awards is to highlight the contribution that nurses make to patient care and the developments and innovations they are leading to improve it.

"Over the past 17 years we have seen outstanding examples of nurses developing services for patients that make a real difference to improving the health of the local community.

"Nurses work extremely hard to provide a high level of care to patients, often within pressurised environments, and are playing a leading role in developing our health services. At a time when the provision of health care is undergoing change, nurses are continuing to work hard to provide safe and effective care. More than ever, this is a time to show our appreciation and to recognise and reward excellence in nursing.

"The awards are also an important opportunity for the public to show how much they value the care they receive. Any member of the public can nominate a nurse or health care assistant they feel has made a special contribution to their care, or to the care of a friend or family member, for the Patient’s Choice Award.

"We are delighted to welcome a new award this year supported by Niamh (the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health). The Mental Health Innovation Award aims to reward innovative work to improve mental health services and support within communities.

"As well as the main Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year Award, other categories include the Chief Nursing Officer’s Award for patient safety, Bamford Vision Award for Mental Health and Learning Disability, Public Health Award, Team Manager Award, and Health Care Support Worker Award. The Transforming Care with Technology Award rewards quality and excellence in the use of tele-monitoring and tele-health to improve care for patients, while pre-registration nursing students can apply for the Student Award and post-registration students for the Nursing Research Award.

"A special award to recognise outstanding achievement in the nursing profession in Northern Ireland will also be presented.

"Nurses deserve to be recognised for the very valuable contribution they make to our health care and I would encourage nurses throughout Northern Ireland to consider nominating colleagues for the awards."

Application forms for all categories are available from the RCN by telephoning 028 90 384 600 or can be downloaded online at www.rcn.org.uk/northernireland. The closing date for entries is 31 January 2013.

Award categories

The RCN Northern Ireland Nurse of the Year Award seeks to recognise professional excellence, innovation and leadership within nursing and is open to all registered nurses and midwives working in all health care sectors in Northern Ireland. Candidates are required to demonstrate that they were instrumental in setting up a project, or initiated and led changes in nursing practice, that have had a demonstrable benefit for patient care.

The Patient’s Choice Award, supported by GlaxoSmithKline, rewards practitioners who have specifically been nominated by patients and members of the public in recognition of the care that they have provided and is open to all registered nurses, midwives and health care assistants working in all health care sectors in Northern Ireland. Patients, clients or relatives can nominate someone whom they believe has made a difference and has gone that extra bit further to ensure that the patient has received the highest standards of care.

The Team Manager Award, supported by Pfizer, is open to all nursing and midwifery team managers currently working in all health care sectors in Northern Ireland who succeed in raising standards of care for their patients and clients. Nominations are invited from fellow health and social care professionals.

The Student Award, supported by the Queen’s University of Belfast, is open to all pre-registration nursing students in Northern Ireland. The award aims to recognise and reward excellence in professional education.

The Nursing Research Award, supported by the University of Ulster, is open to registered nurses and midwives working in all health care sectors in Northern Ireland and aims to recognise and reward quality and excellence in nursing research. Candidates can nominate themselves or can be nominated by a colleague or their research supervisor.

The Health Care Support Worker Award, supported by the DHSSPS, is open to any health care assistant or nursing auxiliary who works as part of the nursing team and has demonstrated commitment to high standards of patient care.

The Outstanding Achievement Award, supported by Boehringer Ingelheim, will be awarded to a nurse who has made an outstanding contribution to nursing in Northern Ireland.

The Bamford Vision Award for Mental Health and Learning Disability, supported by the DHSSPS is open to any registered nurses working in mental health and learning disability settings. The aim of the award is to showcase the work currently undertaken in mental health and learning disability settings and how nurses are looking towards the Bamford Vision which aims to drive forward service improvement for those with a mental health need or a learning disability.

The Public Health Award, supported by the Public Health Agency and HSC Board is open all registered nurses, midwives and health care assistants working in all health care sectors in Northern Ireland and aims to recognise work that has had an impact on health and social wellbeing inequalities.

The Transforming Care with Technology Award, supported by TF3, is open to all registered nurses and midwives working in all health care settings in Northern Ireland and aims to recognise and reward quality and excellence in the use of tele-monitoring and tele-health to improve care for patients.

The Mental Health Innovation Award, supported by the Niamh (Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health, is open to all registered nurses working in mental health in Northern Ireland who have been involved in innovative work to improve mental health services and support within communities.